


Bent not Broken(but on the verge)

by MarieanMuse



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Canon Disabled Character, Case Fic, I am trying so hard to tag without giving away spoilers, Implied/Referenced Prostitution, M/M, Minor Character Death, Misunderstandings, Moral Ambiguity, Murder Mystery, Protective Bucky Barnes, Sam is so done with your shit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-05-13
Packaged: 2019-04-29 19:49:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14479914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarieanMuse/pseuds/MarieanMuse
Summary: When homicide detective, James 'Bucky' Barnes meets a young prostitute named Tony, he thinks Tony might just be the person he needs to crack the latest case involving a dead prostitutes.Of course, things are never simple when you add in in the mafia, lies and the whole of corrupt New York.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Let me start by saying, I don’t know anything about law enforcement. Everything is based off what I have seen in cop/detective shows and movies so don’t expect 100% accuracy. With that said, I have tried my best at 'research'.
> 
> Also, this story wasn't supposed to go up so soon but I saw Infinity Wars yesterday and I was so emotional that I had to post this to basically calm myself down.

"Cause of death seems to be this gunshot to the heart," Bruce said, then pointed at the slashes adorning the corpse’s chest. “The others seem to be overkill.”

Bruce poked at the bare flesh a few more times taking in the colour. "And I'd say dead for less than 12 hours. Most likely bled to death. I will need to get a proper look before I say anything concrete though, Detective."

Bucky nodded at the medical examiner and side-stepped the blood that had congealed on the sidewalk as he examined the body. "Not enough blood for it to have taken place here, I take it?" Bucky asked, despite already knowing the answer. “Who called it in?”

It was his partner, Sam Wilson who turned around and commented, "Uniforms called it in at 5am."

"That late? Nobody heard anything? No gunshot?" Bucky questioned.

"Used a silencer, most likely. And you know the neighborhood, Barnes. Nobody would be calling a cop here." Sam reasoned, shrugging his shoulders.

"That makes getting a proper statement even harder." Bucky sighed.

Bucky started to slowly circle the naked body sprawled behind the dumpster. The body was definitely made to be hidden from any immediate passersby of the street.

"No ID either before you ask." Sam informed.

"Canvas the area. See if anyone heard or saw anything."

"Got it!" Sam nodded and walked towards the small crowd that had gathered near the mouth of the alleyway.

"Anything else that's noteworthy?" Bucky asked their resident medical examiner, who had begun to bag the evidences.

"Like I said before, can't tell right now, detective. But I wouldn’t expect much. Alleys are a bitch to comb through for proper evidence. Too much contamination,” Bruce said, adjusting his glasses. “Plus, this looks fairly standard.”

And, while Bucky didn’t like how it had been implied, he knew what their resident medical examiner had meant by that. Just another nameless prostitute, probably killed by a disgruntled John. It wasn’t even a leap of an assumption. In this part of the city, in this particular neighbourhood, not entirely uncommon. Chances of it being a solid case was close to zero. Chances of finding the perp, even less.

* * *

Conventional wisdom in homicide investigations held that speed was of the essence. The notion was that any case that was not solved or that lacked significant leads and witness participation within the first 72 hours had little likelihood of being solved, regardless of the expertise and resources deployed.

So, when the end of the week had neared and there had been little to no progress on the case, Bucky knew this would become of one those cold cases that the department shoved in the back of the filing cabinet. Given that the victim was a sex worker, the department would be more than happy to. Noone made a fuss about dead hookers.

“Captain wants to see us.” Sam informed, coming behind Bucky and pulling him out of his reverie.

Bucky put down his manila folder and cracked his neck.  The loud pops made him groan out loud in satisfaction. 

“Not like we have much to say.” Bucky said and Sam shrugged.

“My end is a dead-end too.” Sam informed. “I talked with Banner an hour ago. Nothing enlightening or new on the forensics’ side either.”

Bucky nodded and tried not to feel as dejected as they made their way to the Captain’s office.

 “Captain.” Both Bucky and Sam greeted Nicholas Fury who acknowledged them with a nod.

 “How’s the case coming? Anything noteworthy?” Fury asked as the door behind them shut.

“We basically know nothing other than his name and he worked the streets,” Bucky recalled the sad file. “No family members to speak of. No gang affiliations either. We spoke with the roommate. She had a lot to say about him. Unfortunately, nothing useful. So, no leads there either.”

Captain Fury hummed, nodding his head at the information.

“What do you two think?” Fury asked.

“Honestly, Captain?” Sam started before Bucky could say anything. “The working theory is that some John did him in.”

“So basically, another dead hooker that the NYPD should just close the case on.” Bucky recited what his fellow officers were thinking, and saying in some cases. It wasn’t an uncommon attitude, not even an unpopular one among the officers. The police generally tended to care very little about these cases. Almost all such homicides went unsolved and the handful of those that did get solved, the perps almost never got prosecuted due to lack of solid evidence. The police didn’t want to waste their resources on sex workers. To them, these sex workers were dime a dozen, like a pest – kill one, dozen spawned the next night on the street.

“Bucky…” Sam’s eyebrows furrowed in concern as he felt the change in demeanor of his partner.

“Who cares about dead hookers, right?” Bucky said a little too loudly. “It’s not like they are people. Just whores.”

“Detective Barnes.” Fury didn’t shout but his voice was cold and authoritative. The accompanying glare made Bucky move his gaze away from Fury and at the wall behind Fury in chastisement; he stared unblinkingly at the drawn blinds.

Fury turned to Sam. “Detective Wilson, that will be it from you today. I want to have a little talk with Detective Barnes here.”

Sam nodded and left the Captain’s office, but not before giving a very concerned glance towards his partner. Once the door was shut, Fury let out a tired breath.

“You want to tell me what that was about, Barnes?” Fury asked, gesturing Bucky towards the brown couch lining the wall.

Bucky exhaled sharply, and seated himself, back still upright and tense.

 “I have already been cleared by the therapist so it’s not what you are thinking.” Bucky defended.

Fury hummed as he rested his chin atop his folded hands. “I never said anything.”

“It is like Sam said, the kid was a hooker. Probably had a bad luck with a John.” Bucky said, jaw clenching as he thought about the young man, now lying dead just floors below them in the morgue. “All leads, or the lack of leads suggest that.”

 “Is that what you are angry about?” Fury continued without waiting for his response, “This isn’t your first case with a dead prostitute.”

Bucky glared, “Sir, I – ”

“Are you already thinking that whoever did this won’t be caught?” Fury didn’t let him answer, before adding, “or that the police doesn’t care about some nameless prostitute?”

Fury was watching him with those sharp, calculating eyes; the feeling was unsettling but his observation was accurate.

“There seem to be two concerns here. Let me address both of them.” Fury began. “The perpetrator will be caught because I have my best detectives on the case. And second, don’t forget that you are part of the police and from what I can tell, you care. And sometimes that’s all the kindness your victim needs. Now, would that be all, Detective?” Fury raised an eyebrow, clearly ready to dismiss him.

Bucky closed his eyes and took a breath. He opened his eyes and nodded jerkily.

“Thank you, Captain.” Bucky said sincerely, as he got off the couch.

As he made his way to the door, he added, “By the way, Captain, he wasn’t just a nameless prostitute. His name was Elliot Smith. He was an Archaeology major before he dropped out. His hobby was magnet fishing and he wanted to get a tattoo of Indiana Jones on his forearm.”

 _‘He wasn’t just a prostitute_.’ Bucky wanted to add. ‘ _He was a person_.’

“I see.” Fury said, looking thoughtful, “Sounds like a good kid.”

Bucky nodded silently and walked out of the Captain’s office.

Elliot Smith was going to get justice. Bucky would make sure of it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Howdy folks! I wasn’t planning on updating this today but it’s my birthday today so I decided this would be my treat for ya’all! :D
> 
> Also, I have 2 new-ish stories posted(both Bucky/Tony) so, if you want to give it a read, here are the summaries for them. 
> 
> [Folie à deux](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14538471)  
>  **Summary** : "I killed your parents." are the first words Tony's soulmate will tell him.
> 
> [C is for Cancer](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14559780)  
>  **Summary** : Bucky Barnes is a US Army veteran. He lost his arm in Iraq. His daily routine consists of self pity, AA meetings and eating powdered donuts at said AA meetings.  
>  Tony Stark just graduated MIT. He also has cancer. His daily routine consists of tinkering with robots, ignoring his parent's awful meddling and coming in terms with the fact that he is probably going to die.  
> This is just a story about two idiots falling in love when their worlds are falling apart.
> 
>  
> 
> Updates will be extremely slow because of exams but once I am done with them, updates should be more regular :)

Bucky found himself diligently reading through Smith's files once again. It didn't take long to finish the poor excuse of a file after his brief talk with the Captain. There was nothing substantial in what CSU had pulled up despite the long wait Bucky had gone through for the forensics reports. Given, it was the department's backlog and not the sheer stack of evidence Bucky had for the case. Bruce had been right when he had said the alleyway would be too contaminated for proper evidence.

Bucky shut the file and exhaled sharply.

Across the desk, Sam gave him a sympathetic look, "You okay, Detective?"

Bucky shook his head, "It's nothing. I was thinking of doing some filing."

Sam nodded understandingly. "They don't show that in those cop shows, huh." Sam joked and Bucky cracked a smile.

"Doesn't make for great television, Wilson."

"Well, I would watch it over whatever is on these days, that's for sure."

Bucky chuckled, "You got that much free time, Wilson? Maybe you aren't getting enough cases. I could talk to Captain about-"

"Don't you dare, Barnes!"

"Not like Fury will stick you in Vice again."

"Don't even joke about that," Sam said, shuddering. "Patrolling the streets was fine. It was being shot at by wannabe gangsters that I would like to avoid, thank you very much."

Bucky chuckled at that. His face turned serious. "Speaking of patrol, I think I am going to go by and check out the Smith crime scene once again."

"Want me to come with?"

"No, I'm good. I am doing it on the way home," Bucky popped the top button of his shirt and loosened the collar with his index finger, "besides, this filing will take some time."

"Don't stay up too late then, Detective." Sam teased.

Bucky nodded, smiling ruefully.

* * *

It was close to midnight when Bucky found himself once again at the scene of the crime.

The alley was dark – the flickering light from the street ahead barely reaching where he stood. Briefly, it got painted in bright hues of a passing car.

Bucky pulled out his torch and began to examine the area, wondering if he should have waited till the next morning. He shone the light on the ground, and then towards the windows on the walls enclosing the alley.

According to the reports, no one had heard anything. Or no one willing to talk anyways.

"You! Set your stall somewhere else. This is our corner."

Bucky turned around at the voice, flashing the torch at the group before him; his other hand immediately reached out for his concealed weapon.

"Shit shit shit! RUN! It's a copper!" A different voice yelled and Bucky saw two silhouettes running away frantically. One figure, however, remained behind, rooted to the same spot. Bucky kept the flashlight turned on but out of courtesy, lowered the glaring light away from the new arrival's face

"Are you from around here?" Bucky asked cautiously. His mind had already begun to profile the kid before him. Well, not a kid precisely. He looked young – could be late teen, could be early twenties. He had a good face, a little pretty even, enough to catch a John's eye if he was in the same business as Smith; from the way he was dressed in those tight jeans and wife-beater in this weather, Bucky figured that was the case. Catching no sign of a weapon, Bucky let go of the grip on his own weapon and raised the empty hand over his head. “Kid?”

There was no reply but Bucky saw the quirking of lips into an amused smirk.

"I just want to talk, okay." Bucky tried again. He didn’t want to scare the other away. The kid maintained the distance between them but made no other movement.

"Do you know someone by the name of Elliot Smith?" Bucky continued, hoping for a response of any kind.

There was a brief silence but this time the kid finally spoke, "The guy that was shot?"

"Yeah, yeah a week ago." Bucky hastily supplied.

"I don’t talk with cops." The tone was teasing, not scared, Bucky noted but regardless, the young man began backing away slowly.

"Listen! Please, hear me out!" Bucky pleaded, feeling like something important was passing through his fingers. Just within his grasp and yet.

The stranger stopped at the mouth of the alley. A truck passed by, bathing them both in bright white light. Shadows elongated, danced and disappeared in the alley.

"Good luck with the case though.” And with that said, the kid was gone.

* * *

Once back in his apartment, Bucky popped a TV dinner in the microwave, too lazy to bother with actual cooking. The mashed potatoes ended up burning the roof of his mouth but the meatloaf was still cold in the middle, and the gravy was bland and watery. He grunted but ploughed through, too hungry to care. He was halfway through the sad dinner when he heard his phone ringing. ‘Sam Wilson’, the caller id read. Bucky sighed. At 3 am, it could only mean one thing.

“Detective Barnes speaking.” Bucky said, wiping his mouth with the back of his mouth.

“Good News and Bad news, Barnes. Take your pick.” Sam sounded tired and Bucky started to have a bad feeling about it.

“I don’t know, man. Give me the good news first.” Bucky grunted. In his experience as a homicide cop, there never really was good news.

“Good news is, we may have a lead on the Smith case.” Sam began and that was definitely not what Bucky was expecting. With his phone awkwardly tucked between his shoulder and cheek, he quickly began to clear the remnants of his dinner. He wouldn’t allow himself to be happy because Sam didn’t seemed thrilled over it.

“I am not going to like the bad news, am I?” Bucky humored. On the other side, Sam snorted.

“We may have a lead on the Smith case because we got a new one with the same MO.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There were a few questions about if the person we saw was Tony. Yes, yes he was ;)
> 
> Unfortunately, no Tony in this one but I promise we will see him being properly introduced soon!!! ;)
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has commented, left kudos and subscribed. I love you!

"We just identified the victim's body. His name is Alex Summers. His brother just positively identify his body. We have him in the waiting room if you want to ask questions right now." Sam quickly briefed Bucky the moment he walked into the precinct.

Bucky acknowledged that with a nod. "Anything from the forensics yet?" He took a large swig of his coffee; he needed the caffeine for the impending headache he knew he was going to have with this case. Call it instinct or whatever.

"The reports aren't here but Dr.Banner is sure it's linked. He is waiting for ballistics reports to be absolutely sure but he thinks we are looking at a same murder weapon and the same murderer."

Bucky sighed, sipping on the last vestiges of his coffee in desperation.

"Fair warning, the brother is still in middleschool." Bucky sighed again.

"No parents?"

"Parents died on a plane crash 5 years ago. It seems the relatives refused to take them in. Since, the older brother was already 18, he took legal custody of the younger brother." Sam explained. "Man, that kid has the worst luck ever."

Bucky ignored the last comment but couldn't stop the onslaught of pity for the kid. He dumped the empty coffee cup in the dustbin and lightly shook his head, collecting himself.

"Let's go talk to this kid."

* * *

The kid was sitting on a frayed leather couch that had definitely seen better days. Bucky took in the kid's appearance. He looked like a normal kid, maybe a little on the skinnier side but healthy otherwise. He wasn't crying as expected in this situation, just staring stoically at his hands. And while Bucky was thankful for it, it also worried him.

"Scott Summers?" That clearly startled the kid who jumped a little in his seat. He recovered quickly though and mumbled, "Yeah, that's me." He went back to staring at his joined hands.

Sam put on a kind smile and Bucky tried to mimic it as well, "I am Detective Sam Wilson and this is my partner, Detective James Barnes."

Scott barely acknowledged them with no more than a grimace.

"I know this is a difficult time, but we are here to help. We will need to ask you a few questions, is that alright?." Scott nodded sullenly, glancing at them briefly.

"Now, Scott, when was the last time you saw your brother?" Bucky asked.

"I saw him at breakfast around 7? I had school and I left but he also texted me around dinner time saying he would be late and then I got the call from the police." Scott briefly met Bucky's eyes but went back to staring at his hands which had now begun to tremble. His whole body was trembling.

Bucky felt the second wave of sympathy for the kid. One would think he would have been desensitized to all this a long time ago given his profession and maybe he was, to some degree but never enough to be not affected by a child who had just lost his only family. 

The road ahead was going to be even tougher for the kid. If he was lucky, which didn't seem to be the case so far, he would be taken in by a good foster home, maybe even get adopted, but unlikely given his age. It would be so easy for someone like him to slip into the darkness and never crawl out.

Bucky waited for Scott to calm down a little before starting the questioning again, "Do you know why your brother said he was going to be late?"

"Work." Scott's mumbled. Bucky exchanged a quick glance towards his partner but it wasn't quick enough since Scott noticed.

"I know what my brother does." Scott said, and for the first time met Bucky's eyes challengingly.

Bucky opened his mouth but was quickly silenced by the 13 year old's scathing glare. "Alex is the best brother in the world. What he does doesn't make him a bad person."

"I am sure Alex was a great brother." Sam supplied kindly from the side.

Scott nodded sadly, chewing on his quivering lips. Bucky leaned forward and placed, what he hoped to be a comforting, hand on the kid's shoulder. "Scott, I promise you that we will find the person who did this to your brother. But you have to help us."

"How?" was Scott's meek response.

"By telling everything you know. Anything can be important. So, if there is anything you want to say."

Scott shook his apologetically, "I don't know much. Alex never told me anything. He didn't .. he wanted to protect me. He always has. Ever since mom and dad died. He just wants me to focus on school. Alex never talks about his work." Scott looked between them with shiny eyes. "I am so sorry I don't know anything helpful. I am so useless. Dammit! So useless!!!"

Before the kid could beat himself up more for it, Bucky quickly intervened. "You did good, kid. That was helpful." He patted the kid on the shoulder.

Scott grimaced, clearly unconvinced.

Objectively speaking, the kid was completely useless to them, not that Bucky would tell him that. As a professional, Bucky wanted to push for more information but also seriously doubted that the kid knew anything useful. Clearly, the older brother shielded his younger brother from his work.

"If your remember anything, no matter how small. Call me in this number, okay?" Bucky kindly said, handing over his name card.

Scott nodded, gnawing on his lips. Something passed over his face. "Umm...actually, I don't know if this will help but my brother gave me a number few weeks ago. He said to call it if he was ever in trouble. Only for major emergencies." Scott furiously licked his bruised lips, small hope shining in his eyes.

"Do you have the number?"

Scott nodded, quickly pulling out his phone. He began to scroll through his contacts and finally landed on one. He turned the phone towards Bucky.

"Alex said to ask for someone called the _Beast_."

 


End file.
